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Shashi Tharoor, a former UN under-secretary-general and former Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and Minister of State for Human Resource Development, is an MP for the Indian National Congress. He is the author ofPax Indica: India and the World of the 21st Century.

Very true. Opinions and views exceed facts. Experts analysis and experts have no basic knowledge mainly they were stage managers during their professional career. Editors are not willing their job to nobleness or sanctity of news they are responsible. Even printing error in respect of data, once upon a time considered as a reason to act has gone value less. Source of news is not mentioned in news stories. Can we install an ombudsman or a watchdog so that the difficulty to file a case or complaint is not advantageously taken to continue this day by day widening press which has the most important role in improving life of the people.

Mr. Tharoor,Though you missed to mention the case of Kangana Ranaut & Hritik Raushan, where, like yours, I feel the accusation was entirely nonsensical, you wrote about the over-hyped death mystery of your wife, & here media, so unfortunately, is adding a trauma to the person at the loss of a beloved one.I think you're missing the main cause behind this "tabloid media". All such ephemera (especially the masala news) is brought to divert attention from an important issue that could either uncover government blunders or hurt media owner's business, which I think is one or the same thing.Moreover, the independent media houses like The Wire are facing big defamation lawsuits, leading to depletion of their small resources.

If there ever was a self-serving piece on the “tabloidation” of the Indian media, this is it. Mr. Tharoor uses the article to claim that the “death” of his wife, Sunanda Pushkar was sensationalized by the media. Note his use of the word “death”, not “murder”, even though he well knows that a secret police report made public just three days back claims that his wife was “murdered.” Here’s what the news portal DNA reported on March 12, 2018: “The death was mysterious and everything pointed towards murder from day one, said a senior police officer who was then investigating the case.” The report went on to say that the cause of death suggests to “alprazolam poisoning,” also explaining at least 15 injury marks on her body including needle insertion mark. I have followed the Indian media on the coverage of this case, and, contrary to Mr. Tharoor’s claims, I found the media remarkably quiet on this matter with the exception of two TV channels, “Republic TV,” and “Times Now.” Republic TV has been particularly aggressive in debating this issue and done systematic investigations, which have been corroborated by the recently released police report. The rest of the media have been docile to Mr. Tharoor and his Congress Party, which is long believed to have coopted most of the Indian media through all kinds of inducements. So, Mr. Tharoor is absolutely wrong in claiming that the India media at large sensationalized the “death” – as he calls it – of his wife. Republic TV coverage on the issue has received massive support, with many, many opinion makers of Mr. Tharoor’s rank urging Republic TV to keep pursuing the truth on this matter so that Sunanda Pushkar gets justice. On the contrary, Mr. Tharoor, who should be the first one to welcome media and other probes that would lead to the truth, has done just about everything to get a legal ban on any further coverage of the murder of his wife. So much so, he even has a defamation lawsuit against Republic TV for its coverage of the Sunanda murder.

Oh dear! Tharoor has put his foot in it again! Rahul Gandhi petitioned the President to investigate the death, by heart attack, of Justice Loya on the basis of an 'investigation' by the highly partisan Caravan magazine.If Rahul Gandhi is correct in thinking the death suspicious then it must be the case that at least 4 fellow judges of the deceased conspired to kill him and present his death as having occurred by natural causes. Furthermore, the Judge who invited the deceased to the wedding, after attending which he died, must also be implicated. What possible motivation could these Judges have had? The answer is that Loya is alleged to have turned down a huge bribe. In other words, Judges acted in concert to kill a fellow judge not from any animosity or for any mercenary motive but purely on principle- the principle being that Judges should be as corrupt as possible. Loya had let the side down. So his brother judges killed him. Why is Tharoor implicitly criticising the leader of his own party by for lending credence to rags- like the Caravan magazine- which float bizarre stories as partisan click-bait?After all, Tharoor is a seasoned diplomat with a Doctorate in the subject. He couldn't possibly have dashed this off unthinkably. Or could he? After all, it was the U.N he worked for.

How true are these observations by Shashi Tharoor ! Many of Indian magazines have reduced themselves to cheap fodder for reading , sex and trash, for politicians who rule the country. Sad , nothing better in sight either!

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